The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-16325 filed on Jan. 24, 2001, including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a filter provided with a seal member attached to a peripheral edge portion of a filter body, and to a production method for the filter.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical filter as shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. 9 is formed by a filter body 52, and a seal member 54 attached to a peripheral edge portion 52e of the filter body 52 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-24546). The filter 50 is set in a housing (not shown), with the peripheral edge portion 52e of the filter body 52 and the seal member 54 being clamped by a clamp portion of the housing. The seal member 54 is formed from a rubber or the like so as to have a frame-like shape. An inner peripheral surface of the seal member 54 has a groove 54m as shown in FIG. 9. The seal member 54 is attached to the filter body 52 by fitting the peripheral edge portion 52e of the filter body 52 into the groove 54m. Furthermore, in an example as shown in FIG. 10, a seal member 56 is formed from a felt sheet so as to have a frame-like shape, and the seal member 56 is adhered to a peripheral edge portion 52e of the filter body 52 with an adhesive.
However, due to the construction in which the seal member 54 or 56 is attached to the filter body 52 by fitting or by using an adhesive, the above-described filter 50 needs a step of attaching the seal member 54 or 56 to the filter body 52 after a filter body producing step.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate the need for the step of attaching a seal member to a filter body after a filter body is produced.
A first aspect of the invention relates to a filter including a filter body, and a seal member attached to a peripheral edge portion of the filter body. In the filter of this aspect of the invention, the seal member is fused to a peripheral edge portion of the filter body, by being fused to fibers that form the filter body when the fibers are in a semi-melted state.
According to the first aspect of the invention, the seal member is fused to the filter body when the fibers that form the filter body are in the semi-melted state. Therefore, the step of attaching a seal member after production of the filter body is eliminated.
A second aspect of the invention relates to a filter including a filter body that is formed by layering semi-melted fibers over a forming surface, and a seal member attached to a peripheral edge portion of the filter body, by being fused to the semi-melted fibers.
According to the second aspect of the invention, when the semi-melted fibers that form the filter body are layered over the forming surface, the semi-melted fibers fuse to the seal member so that the seal member is attached to the filter body. Therefore, the formation of the filter body and the attachment of the seal member to the filter body can be simultaneously accomplished. Therefore, the step of attaching a seal member after production of the filter body is eliminated.
A third aspect of the invention relates to a production method for a filter including the steps of: disposing a seal member over a forming surface; and then forming a filter body by layering semi-melted fibers over the forming surface and the seal member.
Since the semi-melted fibers are layered over the forming surface after the seal member is disposed over the forming surface, the seal member and the semi-melted fibers that form the filter body become fused during formation of the filter body. Therefore, the step of attaching the seal member after production of the filter body can be eliminated.